Reproducibility of apatite fission-track length data and thermal history reconstruction

Ketcham, Richard A.; Donelick, Raymond A.; Balestrieri, Maria Laura; Zattin, Massımılıano

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.015

Cited by 140 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The familiar worldwide recent exhumation is then an artefact due to a methodological imperfection rather than a consequence of selecting the annealing model of Laslett et al (1987). It also implies that normalizing fossil-track lengths to a personal initial length (zero-length), either that of induced tracks (Ketcham et al, 2009; or that of fossil tracks considered not to have experienced significant geological annealing (Gunnell et al, 2003;Kohn et al, 2002;, has unpredictable effects on the thermal histories.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

2015

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Five dating strategies were used for determining the standardless fission-track age of the Durango apatite. These use the same fossil-track densities but differ in the manner in which the induced-track densities are determined. A conventional age calculation, without correction for experimental factors, gives inconsistent ages with methodrelated differences N 15%. Correcting for these factors brings the ages in line with each other and with the reference age but leaves no room for a partial-annealing correction based on the confined-track lengths. Three further reasons suggest that a length correction is not appropriate. (1) The evidence for lengthbased corrections is inconclusive. (2) The plateau age of the Durango apatite is consistent with its apparent fission-track age to within 1%. (3) The calculated effective etchable length of the fossil tracks agrees within error with that of the induced tracks; both are further consistent with the measured mean length of confined induced tracks. The circumstance that the (U,Th)/He ages of the accepted and proposed apatite age standards are consistent with their reference ages leaves no margin for a lowered fission-track age resulting from partial annealing, although the case of the Durango apatite itself is inconclusive because of its exceptional crystal size. It is conjectured that the shortening of the fossil tacks in the Durango apatite is due to a lowering of the track etch rate over time. In this case, annealing equations fitted to induced-track data underestimate the extent of confined-track-length reduction in geological samples.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

2015

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“…with the oldest AFT Fig. 9 a-e Results from thermal modelling (HeFTy, Ketcham et al 2009), with revealed t-T paths illustrating the cooling history of individual samples from the northern part (a), and across the central Rwenzori Mtns (b-d). Displayed are the t-T paths (left), and the caxes corrected confined fission-track length (CT) frequency distribution (right) overlain by a calculated probability density function (best fit).…”

Section: Ages Versus Faultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This is the expected value if the time-temperature path and kinetic model are in fact the correct ones. An acceptable fit (displayed green in graph) corresponds to a merit value of 0.05 or higher (GOF C 5%), indicating that the model has not failed the null hypothesis test that forms the basis of the applied statistics (Ketcham 2009;Ketcham et al 2009). …”

Section: Apatite (U-th-sm)/he Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal and exhumation history of the central Rwenzori Mountains, Western Rift of the East African Rift System, Uganda

Bauer

Glasmacher

Ring

et al. 2010

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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The Rwenzori Mountains (Mtns) in west Uganda are the highest rift mountains on Earth and rise to more than 5,000 m. We apply low-temperature thermochronology (apatite fission-track (AFT) and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) analysis) for tracking the cooling history of the Rwenzori Mtns. Samples from the central and northern Rwenzoris reveal AFT ages between 195.0 (±8.4) Ma and 85.3 (±5.3) Ma, and AHe ages between 210.0 (±6.0) Ma to 24.9 (±0.5) Ma. Modelled time-temperature paths reflect a protracted cooling history with accelerated cooling in Permo-Triassic and Jurassic times, followed by a long period of constant and slow cooling, than succeeded by a renewed accelerated cooling in the Neogene. During the last 10 Ma, differentiated erosion and surface uplift affected the Rwenzori Mtns, with more pronounced uplift along the western flank. The final rock uplift of the Rwenzori Mtns that partly led to the formation of the recent topography must have been fast and in the near past (Pliocene to Pleistocene). Erosion could not compensate for the latest rock uplift, resulting in Oligocene to Miocene AHe ages.

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“…This program defi nes the envelopes in a time-temperature space that contains all paths that yield statistically "good" and "acceptable" fi ts with the AFT data, respectively. In HeFTy, fi ssion-track lengths normalized for track angle using c-axis projection (Ketcham et al, 2007a(Ketcham et al, , 2009) and the annealing model of Ketcham et al (2007b) were used. Only TINTs (tracks reached by etching through another track intercepting the polished apatite surface) were measured as recommended by Carlson et al (1999).…”

Section: Sampling and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early exhumation of underthrust units near the toe of an ancient erosive subduction zone: A case study from the Northern Apennines of Italy

Remitti

Balestrieri

Vannucchi

et al. 2013

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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Apatite fi ssion-track (AFT) analyses were performed on 16 sandstone samples from a tectonic mélange unit exposed in three tectonic windows located near the inferred front of the early Miocene subduction system of the Northern Apennines of Italy. The tectonic windows display a block-on-block tectonic mélange present under the Ligurian Units. The mélange is formed by portions of the upper plate incorporated in the plate boundary shear zone as a consequence of a mechanism of frontal tectonic erosion during the Aquitanian (early Miocene). AFT and structural data, together with stratigraphic constraints, allow the reconstruction of a complete deformation cycle with a phase of underthrusting followed by underplating and early exhumation of the tectonic mélange. The exhumation, in particular, took place at ~10-20 km from the original subduction front. Moreover, the analysis suggests that multiple faults were active at the same time in the frontal part of the subduction zone.

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Reproducibility of apatite fission-track length data and thermal history reconstruction

Cited by 140 publications

References 19 publications

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

Standardless fission-track dating of the Durango apatite age standard

Thermal and exhumation history of the central Rwenzori Mountains, Western Rift of the East African Rift System, Uganda

Early exhumation of underthrust units near the toe of an ancient erosive subduction zone: A case study from the Northern Apennines of Italy

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